Molina de Segura Today

Important agricultural and industrial municipality with the fourth highest population in the Murcia Region

Molina de Segura is 8 kilometres from the capital city of Murcia and in spite of being relatively small and covering just 169.5 square kilometres, has the fourth highest population of the 45 municipalities which comprise the Murcia Region, with more than 70,000 inhabitants.

The principal reason for this is its proximity to the capital, making it an ideal dormitory location for those working in the city, but it is also a hugely important logistical and industrial area as it sits at a strategic crossroads and historically controlled access to the north of Spain and the Murcia Region.

For this reason it has one of the largest concentrations of transport companies in the country and more than 6,000 lorries are registered as being based in the municipality, operating from the industrial parks which also make it an important focal point for industrial activity.

This geographical location has made it a strategic base throughout its history and the town has major remains of walled fortifications dating back to the period when Spain was occupied by the Moors, who built the capital city of Murcia on the banks of the River Segura.

As its name suggests, Molina de Segura is also located alongside the River Segura and is the capital of the comarca of Vega Media del Segura.This in turn, resulted in agricultural activity due to the availability of water and in spite of its industrial importance today, Molina de Segura was essentially built on agriculture.

The landscape is varied, ranging from the regional park of the Sierra de la Pila, with dry mountainous sierras to the wetter areas of the Humedal de Ajauque and Rambla Salada, offering a wide range of conditions which favour a variety of crops.

Today Molina de Segura is the second largest agricultural producer in the region and produces a wide range of agricultural produce, ranging from dry cultivation products such as almonds, olives and cereal crops, to irrigated fruit stone crops, peaches, apricots and plums, citrus crops, melons, cereals, potatoes, and green vegetables, including cauliflowers, spinach, broccoli and artichokes.

Agricultural activity propelled the creation of businesses dedicated to canning and conserves, which in turn attracted logistics businesses and those creating packaging, and this then brought more food-related industrial activity to the area, thus further boosting the packaging sector.

Molina de Segura is now one of the most important industrial municipalities in Spain and the municipality has four industrial estates.

Although nearly 70% of its population live in the main town, the remainder is scattered throughout 14 outlying pedanías or districts.

Around the outskirts of the town there are numerous residential urbanisations, particularly in the pedanía of Romeral. The principal urbanisation in this pedanía is Altorreal (which has the largest number of inhabitants), La Alcayna, Los Conejos, Los Olivos, La Quinta, Monte Príncipe, El Chorrico, Finca Maximino, El Romeral II,and El Pino. Although Molina de Segura is a natural “dormitory town” for those working in Murcia City, it’s also one of the municipalities of the region with the highest proportion of second homes, as many who live in the city escape to the rural areas of Molina de Segura at the weekend.

This again leads to a situation whereby the municipality has one of the busiest entertainments programmes of any municipality with a full schedule of cultural activities, fiestas and theatrical entertainment.

The municipality also has a number of interesting monuments including the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, ermita de San Roque, Ermita de la Virgen de la Consolación, several windmills and watermills as well as some interesting industrial sites and chimneys, and the Moorish walls.

The main fiestas patronales are held in honour of the patrona of the town, the Virgen de la Consolación in September.

Molina de Segura also has a growing Semana Santa tradition, which includes a full-scale theatrical Vía Crucis following the stations of the cross in the pedanía of Torrealta, which concludes with a spectacular crucifixion on the sierra overlooking the municipality.The municipality also has an important folk tradition relating to the agricultural traditions and culture of the agricultural sector.

It has a relatively low ex-pat population, however, and lacks urbanisations built specifically to cater for the ex-pat second homes market.

Where is Molina de Segura?

Centrally located, Molina de Segura forms part of the metropolitan area of the city of Murcia and shares a boundary with the municipality of Murcia municipality, as well as with Abarán, Blanca and Fortuna to the north, Lorquí and Ulea to the west and Fortuna to the east.